Mass Transit Expert

"Transportation is the most significant single influence on the shape of a metropolitan region. Wherever places of business and other daily activities are separated from each other and from homes, easy, comfortable transportation is vital.... Travel over varying distances has become a paramount consideration in urban life." Few commuters would disagree with that point expressed by WALTER S. DOUGLAS '33, nationally recognized as one of the foremost authorities on planning mass transportation systems and facilities. Throughout this country and abroad, he has been working to untangle metropolitan traffic snarls.

In his opinion, "it seems likely that a modern rapid transit system will be required to restore and sustain free- flowing circulation in most major metropolitan areas. This is the only facility that can penetrate to the heart of a center city or major subcenter, and give distribution, through a series of station stops, without preempting a high proportion of the very area it would be designed to serve." Implementing these ideas, he did the original planning on the $1.3-billion San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit System scheduled to open in 1972. His firm, in joint venture with two others, was retained for the design and management of construction of the 75-mile system. He also directed the preparation of transportation plans for the regional areas of Baltimore, Atlanta, southern New Jersey, and Pittsburgh, as well as Caracas, Venezuela.

He has been in responsible charge of the design of many port facilities, including those in Toledo, Ohio, and Callao, Peru, and of such major underground defense centers as that at Fort Ritchie, Md., and the Combat Operations Center of the North American Air Defense Command at Colorado Springs. Currently, he is engaged in the complex task of modernizing the Long Island Railroad and designing a rail connection from Pennsylvania Station in New York City to Kennedy Airport.

There are certain guidelines that Douglas follows in planning a rapid transit system. "To attract the patronage for which it would be constructed, the system must be designed to standards of comfort and convenience to compete with the private automobile. Interurban transit must, therefore, provide comfortable seats for all passengers, must operate at speeds averaging at least 45 mph, including time for station stops, and must provide service at short intervals. Stations must be at points convenient to travelers. In urban centers, stations must be within walking distance of the concentration of employment and shopping. In suburban residential areas, they must be accessible by automobile or bus over uncongested roads and highways, and there must be ample facilities for parking and for interchange with local transit."

A commuter himself, Douglas knows only too well what the daily ran from suburb to city requires, for he travels from his home in Plainfield, N. J., to the Lower Manhattan office of Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade & Douglas. Under his leadership as senior partner, this consulting engineering firm has greatly expanded its architectural and planning abilities to the point where it can staff most large-scale projects with its own personnel, now numbering 700.

Douglas began his career with the Nashville Bridge Company in Tennessee after receiving an M.S. degree from Harvard in 1935. He came north two years later as assistant to the chief of engineering design at the New York World's Fair 1939, Inc. His work with the Fair led directly to Parsons, Brinckerhoff, which he joined in 1940 as a staff engineer. Except for four years in the Navy Civil Engineer Corps during World War II, he has been with the firm ever since, becoming a partner in 1952 and a senior partner in 1966.

Numerous professional honors have come to Douglas during his career. In 1967 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, which honors achievements in the engineering profession. Last year he was awarded the James Laurie Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers, of which he is a Fellow. It sought to recognize his contributions to the field of transportation with special emphasis on his leadership in establishing criteria for solutions to long-range transportation problems in urban areas. Most recently The Moles, an organization of construction experts, presented him with their annual nonmember award for outstanding achievement in construction. In their citation he was described as "an eminent engineer and leader in the planning and design of mass transportation systems."